1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to methods, systems and apparatus for automatically ensuring that articles within a vehicle are in a secured position during movement of the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
There are currently numerous types of vehicles or means of transportation that carry passengers. For instance, various types of ground transportation (e.g., automobiles, buses, trains, etc.), airplanes, amusement rides, child car seats, strollers, child ride-on toys, and the like are in existence. In all of these types of vehicles or means of transportation, there is at least one or more article that must be secured during movement of the vehicle for ensuring the safety of its passengers. For example, it is preferred that seatbelts are securely fastened, trays are properly stowed, overhead luggage compartments are latched, seats are in upright positions, etc, all during movement of the vehicle.
Securely fastened seatbelts are essential for ensuring passenger safety in various means of transportation or vehicles. For instance, lap seatbelts are often used in various types of ground transportation, airplanes, amusement rides and the like, while harness restraint seatbelts are also used in various means of ground transportation as well as child car seats, strollers, amusement rides, and the like. In all of these modes of transportation, or moving devices, it is essential to ensure that the seatbelt is securely fastened and in proper use for retaining passengers in seats, particularly, during movement of the vehicle.
However, a significant problem with the use of seatbelts, as well as all other articles that are preferably in a secured position for ensuring passenger safety, is that the driver, operator or attendants of these means of transportation or vehicles cannot continually ensure and monitor that such articles are in a safe and secured position. For instance, the driver, operator or attendants cannot continually ensure and monitor that all passengers have their seatbelts fastened, and that such fastened seatbelts are properly secured about the passenger.
It becomes even more difficult when the means of transportation carries many passengers, such as, for example, a commercial aircraft, bus, train, etc. For instance, in a commercial aircraft a typical activity of a flight attendant is to monitor the status of each passenger's seatbelt, in addition to making sure that trays are properly stowed, overhead luggage compartments are latched and seats are in upright positions. At many points during the flight (e.g., prior to take-off, during turbulence, or prior to landing), the flight attendant may need to make these status checks by walking up and down the aisle to inspect every passenger on board to ensure that their seats are upright and seatbelts properly fastened, that the trays are stowed, and the luggage compartments are latched. This is not only burdensome and time consuming for the flight attendant, but it may also disturb passengers, particularly, if a passenger is sleeping or resting.
As another example, it is also often difficult for an automobile driver to ensure that articles therein are in secured positions during movement of the automobile. A typical article that is difficult to monitor is the status of seatbelts within the automobile, particularly, whether or not those seats having passengers have properly fastened seatbelts. This is especially the case when the passengers are children, whom have a tendency to unfasten their seatbelts to get out of their seats or even climb out of their seats leaving the seatbelt still fastened during movement of the automobile. This type of activity is not only dangerous for the passenger, it is also distracting to the driver, leading to an increased risk of an accident that could potentially injure all passengers in the automobile, as well as passengers of other automobiles and bystanders.
Typical solutions for ensuring that articles within a vehicle are in a secured position during movement of the vehicle include manual inspection and electrically wired detection systems. Manual inspection is undesirable since it is time consuming and inefficient. Electrically wired detection systems are also undesirable since they are expensive, require electrical wiring running from every detection device to a control system, as well as require increased maintenance, and as such, increased downtime.
For instance, a typical solution for ensuring that seatbelts are fastened in a vehicle is having a sensor in the seatbelt electrically wired to a display unit of the vehicle located on the vehicle's dashboard. The display unit indicates whether the seatbelt is fastened or not fastened. However, in these systems, the seatbelts that are electrically wired are limited to the front seat seatbelts, and do not indicate the status of any rear seat seatbelts. The status of rear seat seatbelts becomes even more problematic when a child car seat or booster seat is used since these types of seats are not electrically wired to the electrically wired detection systems. A further problem is the need for running the electrical wiring from every seatbelt to the vehicle display unit. This would be time consuming and expensive, particularly when such electrical wiring would need to be installed in already existing vehicles that carry a large number of passengers.
Another concern with secured articles in a moving vehicle is verifying that such secured articles are in fact properly secured. For example, a concern with fastened seatbelts is ensuring or verifying that such fastened seatbelts are properly positioned on or about the passenger's body. While systems exist to detect whether or not an article is secured during movement of the vehicle, the prior art is deficient in systems that also verify that such secured articles are properly secured. For instance, while systems exist to monitor the status of a seatbelt (i.e., whether or not it is fastened), the prior art is deficient in systems that also verify that a fastened seatbelt is in fact properly fastened on or about a passenger's body.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide methods, systems and apparatus for automatically ensuring that articles within a vehicle are in a secured position during movement of the vehicle to ensure the safety of those passengers riding in the vehicle.